Under the Southern Cross Author:Maturin Murray Ballou Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. The Samoan Islands. A Unique Race of Savages. Diving for Money. A Genuine Samoan Mermaid. German Aggressiveness. A South-Sea Nunnery. ... more » A Terrible Disease. Christianity vs. Paganism. Under the Southern Cross. Grandeur of the Heavens at Sea. Landing at Auckland. A Stormy Ocean. The Famous Harbor of Sydney. England and her Australian Colony The Modern Eldorado. Early Settlers. In our course southward we made the islands known as the Samoan, or Navigator's group, and stopped to land the American and European mails at Tutuila, which is about two thousand three hundred miles from Honolulu. The six islands which form this group of the South Pacific lie between the Society and Peejee groups, three of them being among the largest in Polynesia. Their names are Savaii, Upolu, Tutuila, Manua, Manono, and Apolima. Savaii has a circumference of a hundred and forty miles, and is literally covered with forests of tropical trees from shore to mountain-top. Upolu measures nearly fifty miles from east to west, and is the most fertile and populous of the group. Apolima is the most remarkable for its cones and craters, giving unmistakable evidence of former volcanic action, by clearly-defined vents and fire-shafts among its hills. There are few rivers on these islands, but Upolu and Savaii haveISLAND OF TUTUILA. 51 several crystal lakes among their mountains. Gales, cyclones, and earthquakes occur quite often enough to vary the monotony. We have said that there are six of these islands; there are also others, scarcely more than islets, however. The highest land in the group is on Savaii, a lofty peak in the middle of the island, the top of which is nearly always hidden in clouds. Tutuila was the island which was first sighted, and as it lay sleepi...« less